Jiji, a leading marketplace for classifieds in Africa, has reached an agreement with Naspers to acquire the activities of OLX, its main competitor, on the African market, including businesses in Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Tanzania.
Jiji is a project of Genesis, a Kyiv- (Kiev-) based company which has developed a variety of Internet and mobile projects.
Still subject to regulatory approvals, the transaction is backed by one of Jiji’s investors, Digital Spring Ventures, which already invested in Jiji in the past.
The amount of the deal has not been disclosed, but Ukrainian tech blog AIN.UA has estimated it between $1.5 million and $3.4 million.
Once the transaction is completed, all users of the classifieds websites of OLX Nigeria, OLX Ghana, OLX Kenya, OLX Tanzania, and OLX Uganda will be redirected to Jiji.
The deal will allow Jiji to reach a single user base of more than eight million monthly unique users immediately after the transaction is complete and serve a market with a combined population of 300 million people. In two to three years, Jiji’s audience is expected to reach 10 to 12 million active users per month, asreportedby AIN.
At present, Jiji claims over one million live classified ads at any given moment in a rapidly growing market of 200 million people. The platform attracts more than six million unique users every month, most of whom use the Jiji app.
More than 50,000 professional sellers use Jiji, including over 10,000 paid users, according to Genesis CEO and Jiji co-founder Vladimir Mnogoletniy.
In 2018, the Jiji app was number one by downloads in the Shopping category for Android users in Nigeria. Today it is the highest rated app in Nigerian e-commerce.
Jiji aims to become one of the top 10 classifieds businesses in the world by traffic in the next couple years, the Ukrainian businessman said.
